A year after Biden visited Somerset, has anything changed with climate and Brayton Point?

The SouthCoast was abuzz this time last July with a hot story: President Joe Biden was coming to Somerset to talk global warming. One year later, it's unclear how consequential that visit was.

Biden chose to hold his press conference at Brayton Point, which was for decades home to a coal-burning power plant so notorious for water and air pollution it topped a list of the “Filthy Five” most environmentally harmful plants in the state. The choice was deliberate: Brayton Point is playing host to companies involved in offshore wind, embodying the transition from fossil fuels to green energy.

The president, senators, representatives and a cadre of dignitaries flew from Washington to Somerset on what ended up being one of the hottest days of the year to call climate change “an existential threat for our nation and the world.”

With an audience of mainly media baking in brutal 94-degree heat, Biden delivered an 18-minute speech on the effects of climate change on the environment, public health and the economy. Pundits had speculated this could be an occasion for the president to declare a climate change emergency, unlocking special executive powers to wean the country off fossil fuels. Biden twice called climate change an “emergency,” and said his administration would soon make it official.

In the year that has passed since that speech, what has changed? Let’s take stock:

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Did President Biden ever declare climate change an ‘emergency’?

No. During his speech, Biden said, “As president I will use my executive powers to combat the climate crisis. … This is an emergency, and I will look at it that way.”

To date, his administration has not used his executive authority to declare climate change an emergency.

The president has limited, temporary powers to declare national emergencies. Among the options open to Biden were stopping fossil fuel production, imports and exports.

However, by executive order Biden expanded the rules for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, to allow qualifying households to use funding for more cooling purposes.

And about a month after his speech, Biden signed into the law the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest piece of federal legislation in U.S. history to address climate change. It invests $783 billion in climate change and domestic energy security programs; among other provisions, it allocated billions for renewable energy, nuclear power, electric vehicle incentives, home energy efficiency upgrades, carbon capture and storage, and more.

During his 2023 State of the Union speech, Biden continued to call climate change “an existential threat,” but noted: “We’re still going to need oil and gas for a while.”

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What has been happening with Brayton Point?

Nothing on the ground, but a lot behind the scenes. Two companies connected to the offshore wind industry have committed to moving into the 306-acre site at Brayton Point: SouthCoast Wind intends to build a substation for its planned nearby offshore turbines, and Prysmian Group plans to build a manufacturing plant to produce undersea cables for use in turbine projects.

Those projects were in the works last year and are still in the pipeline.

Prysmian plans to build several buildings on 47 acres, including a tower used to coat their cables with insulation. The tower would be 600 feet tall and around 80 feet wide. The former Brayton Point Power Station included two cooling towers that were each around 500 feet tall and 300 feet wide. Previously, Prysmian has said its facility could be up and running by 2026.

SouthCoast Wind plans to build a 65-foot-tall substation that will occupy around 10 acres. It would be connected via undersea cables to an offshore wind turbine farm it plans to build around 30 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard.

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SouthCoast Wind has suggested it could start construction in two years, with power being delivered by the late 2020s.

But the company has also said it wants to pull out of its power contracts with Massachusetts utilities and rebid, saying inflation has made its existing contracts unviable.

What has been happening with climate change since a year ago?

It's getting warmer. According to NASA’s global temperature analysis, June 2023 was the hottest June in recorded history, 1.89 degrees hotter than average.

This past June was also, according to NOAA, the 532nd consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average.

As of June 17, the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories for millions of people across the south, midwest and southwest United States, and excessive heat warnings for millions more. Nearly the entire state of Texas is under either a heat advisory, watch or warning. The city of Phoenix has logged 18 consecutive days with temperatures above 110 degrees, matching its previous heat wave record.

Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Climate change not improved since President Biden's Somerset visit